Germany

Offshore appeal for swift government action

GERMANY: Northern German cities and states have joined forces with the offshore wind industry and trade unions to demand more planning security and financial investment from the federal government.

Northern German states and cities are demanding clearer leadership from government for offshore future

Their combined urgent appeal, dubbed the "Cuxhavener Appell" was issued to the German government just weeks before the federal elections on 22 September.

Key demands include that transmission system operator Tennet keeps to schedule on offshore network connections or face government intervention; that the state makes a financial contribution to building port infrastructure and shipyards working for offshore wind, and that the federal government swiftly passes new legislation to provide a secure support framework to allow the next wave of German offshore investment in 2014 and 2015 to proceed.

Without rapid action to restore a long-term perspective for the industry, jobs will be lost across the offshore sector, the signatories warn.

They added that the urgently needed new legal measures must take into account that offshore wind cost-cutting potential can only materialise in the medium term, and then only against a background of steady offshore expansion and secure framework conditions.

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